As we’ve been covering much of this year, while the Chinese EV market is still the largest EV market in the world (by far), it has shrunk quite a bit this year as the broader auto market has shrunk significantly. As a result, Chinese automakers are looking for sales opportunities abroad. If they want to see EV sales growth, or at least don’t want sales to shrink, they need to find markets abroad where they can sell more cars.
In the case of Geely’s EV brands Zeekr and Lynk & Co, the Chinese auto giant is aiming to double the brands’ foreign sales.
The country of Malaysia is one market Geely is targeting. The company is also going to start producing EVs in Malaysia, via business partner Proton, in early 2027. It will start with the Zeekr 7X. Note that Geely owns 49.9% of Proton.
Doubling Zeekr and Lynk & Co production would mean producing more than 100,000 such electric vehicles in 2026. That’s not BYD’s or Tesla’s level, but it’s a lot, and you have to start somewhere.
Geely is one of the Chinese auto companies that is working to take over underutilized auto factories from other companies, particularly as a way into protected markets like Europe. In fact, due to all of the underutilized production capacity across the world, the EV maker doesn’t have any plans to build/open new factories.
Zeekr already has a presence in over 50 countries, and it plans to expand into four more this year: South Korea, New Zealand, South Africa, and the UK.
So, can Geely electrify faster and benefit countries globally much more? Yes, yes it can. Well, we will see, but I’m confident it will find its way forward.